Deserving?
by Construct Master
Summary: The Covenant hate humanity with a fiery passion, stopping at nothing to destroy it. But what have we done? What did we do to deserve this punishment?...2-chapter oneshot, rated T for standard Halo violence, no profanity.
1. Be careful what you wish for

**Sorry about not continuing the my main story, have to think it up first! Summer's almost here, so I can work on that soon.**

Aboard the UNSC _Nebula,_ Halcyon-class starship, in combat with a Covenant CRS-Class Light Cruiser

"Boarding action on decks 37 and 39, all nearby hands to repel boarders." The speaker droned on. No emotion in its voice, it relayed information the raging battle that was happening with the Covenant.

At its voice, several marines moved to suppress this new threat. One of the marines, a fellow carrying an assault rifle, seemed nervous. He was relatively new, and had never fought the Covenant before. His name was David Timerson, and had never hugely wanted to fight. A terrific athlete back on his home colony, he had been drafted into the UNSC when the Covenant warpath seemed to be getting awfully close to his home. After training, he had been put on board the UNSC Nebula, which was sent to patrol the area around his home.

After receiving a foreign reading nearby, the _Nebula_ found a lone CRS-Light Cruiser hiding behind a moon. The cruiser seemed battle-worn, and it's shields were only at roughly 55%, though did not hesitate to attack. It wasn't long before it was obvious the humans would win, but still the Covenant sent boarders. Interestingly, the _Nebula_ had found no signs of other Covenant in the area, implying that this ship had suffered severe blows in a battle before, potentially causing it to make an unplanned jump, and eventually ending up near the colony.

David wondered why the Covenant cruiser would attack when it was obvious it was weak. Perhaps the occupants wanted to make a last, suicidal stand for their "Great Journey." Why would they throw their lives away because a prophet said so? More importantly, why did they hate humanity enough to commit suicide?

When David learned he would be joining the UNSC, he made it a point to learn as much as he could about the Covenant. In addition to being a good athlete, he was smart, and knew that in order to beat the enemy, you have to know their weapons, their ships, and especially their motive.

He had learned from UNSC records about Master Chief and the other Spartan-II's missions, and had figured that the Covenant wanted to light these rings, and didn't know what they would do. But why exterminate the human race? Sometimes he wished he could talk to one, find out why without it burning a hole through his head.

All this went through his head as he dashed through the Nebula's halls on his way to the battle on deck 37. As he turned the corner, another saying from his childhood popped into his head.

"Be careful what you wish for."


	2. Cause you just might get it

His eyes were met with a room chock-full of aliens, humans, and weapons. A large firefight was taking place, and determining which side was winning was nearly impossible. David dropped behind a crate, waited, then got up, and started unloading. Under his assault rifle, a few grunts fell, and an elite's shields flickered. As he got back down to reload, the marine next to him got up, and finished the job David started, cracking the Elite's shields and taking it down with a yell.

Unfortunately, before either could celebrate, a ball of blue landed just behind them. David dashed away as quickly as he could, but his friend was not so lucky.

Now with no cover, David quickly turned and fired, dodging plasma. He managed to put down another Elite, then hid behind the wall in an adjacent hallway as more marines arrived. David halted them, pulled out a grenade, pulled the pin, and chucked back into the battlefield. He heard an explosion, joined by the cries of Jackals and grunts.

The new marines then charged into the confusion, and David started reloading his assault rifle. As he did, he couldn't shake this terrible feeling. He felt that what he was doing was wrong, that he didn't want to kill. He sighed, then turned around to enter the battlefield again-and was faced with an Elite. An Elite in commander armor. An Elite that had a Carbine aimed at his face.

David froze. The Elite just stared. He must have come from another boarding point.

The petrified human slowly put his hands up and dropped his weapon. The elite motioned down another hall, and then started moving towards it, still aiming the carbine at David.

He followed him carefully, not sure what was going on. Did this elite want to take him prisoner?

The Elite approached a door that led to some service tunnels, and went in. David followed. Once inside, the Elite turned to him, and said in Legitamite English, "Tell me about Halo."

If David was scared before, now he was just plain confused. Tell him about Halo? What?

"Well… what do you know?" he responded.

"If you are to believe our prophets, it is a ring made by the Forerunner gods that will send us on a Great Journey."

"What do you think?" This Elite, though judging by his armor he had serious authority, did not seem to show any intent of killing him.

"I think the prophets have no idea what they are talking about, and are selfish and foolish."

"Well," said David, "I don't know about selfish, but they definitely have no idea what they are talking about. Do you know what the Flood is?"

"The parasite? All too well. It wiped out our forces on the ring, before your demon destroyed the 'Holy' place."

"Well, you're right about that. The purpose of Halo is to wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy, thus eliminating the Flood's food source.

At this the Elite's eyes widened. "So that is why your demon destroyed it…. To SAVE the galaxy, and destroy the Flood….."

"Pretty much. But could I ask you a question? Even if you don't believe in the rings and the Great Journey, why do the prophets want us dead? What have we done to deserve it?

The Elite, who seemed at this point to view David as a friend, shook his head. "Honestly, I do not know. I was born just months before our invasion started, but never told why. The only reason most of my comrades fought was to take revenge on the humans who killed our brothers. That was enough for me, but I always wondered why."

David was fairly confident at this point. "Then how about you stop? We never wanted to fight you. Heck, when we first met the Covenant, you torched the ship offering peace. What were we supposed to do?"

"I have thought that for a long time, but we never were allowed to stop. The Prophets, the commanders, were bent on destroying your kind. But now that our ship is independent, maybe we should stop. But why should I believe you?"

David looked the Elite square in the face. "As soon as I learned I would be a part of this war, I made it a point to learn why it was happening. I once wished that I could figure out why you were doing this, maybe help the Covenant stop. I never thought it would happen, but evidently it has."

The Elite nodded. "I have considered the same things you have told me for along time. You have now solidified this view. Human, your conviction is strong. I shall call a retreat and surrender; and try and convince my troops of what you have told me. Thank you."

At this, the Commander walked out of the tunnel. David followed him, then went back to the previous battle scene. The room was largely empty, with only blood and several carcasses to show for it. A few survivors dotted the room, moaning from their wounds.

"All units, the enemy is retreating, fall back and prepare for ship combat." The loadspeaker was droning again.

Minutes later, the captain's voice came on. "To all troops onboard the _Nebula_, I want to commend you all. For once, we were able to repel the boarders, and the Covenant ship is retreating with a surrender message sent to us. Never in human history has this happened. The message reads, "Your troops have fought well. We do not wish to fight, and are leaving. Please, let us go. This is not a trick, you can see that our ship is damaged. We commend you for your effort and defense of your race, goodbye." Now, I don't know what's up with these aliens, but they seem serious. I don't get this anymore than you do. But the humans have won, and I thank you."

David smiled, and started walking to the nearest infirmary to get supplies for the wounded.

_Epilogue:_

_The Covenant ship that attacked that day left the _Nebula, _still intact. While the ship's engineers made repairs, the Commander talked to the Covenant on board about his conversation with David. Most of the Covenant agreed. When the slipspace drive was repaired, they linked up with their fleet, but rather than stay with them, they dispatched a few seraphs containing the ship's tracking beacon, as well as the Covenant who would not agree with the Commander. The ship then slipped away. It was not seen again until a month later, when It showed up outside Earth's orbit to meet up with the Arbiter and join his peace campaign._

_David, meanwhile, stayed on the _Nebula. _He eventually completed his tour of service, and spent time with his family before joining the Spartan-IV program. He became known as a good talker, more of a diplomat with Spartan abilities to boot. This allowed him to resolve conflicts, dealing several times with Insurrectionists. And throughout it all, he never forgot about his conversation with and Elite inside a service tunnel._

**You know how so many say that if we just talked and tried to understand one another, the world would be a perfect place? Well, thanks to sin that can't happen, but there is still a good point in that message. There really is.**


End file.
